


aware of you, aware of me

by ryoken



Series: thirteen years in unholy sanctuary [3]
Category: Saint Seiya
Genre: Gen, implied sagadite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 08:19:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12678045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryoken/pseuds/ryoken
Summary: It doesn't really matter how long you know someone. To understand someone, you must first know the depths of their thinking.





	aware of you, aware of me

There’s another face behind that mask. It’s easier to tell, Deathmask thinks, when you’re taking note of how Aphrodite acts instead of the Grand Pope. Behind the mask, the characters portrays himself in the same manner no matter who the actor is. Variations in characterization only happen when the actors have different bodies, but with them, this is never the case. On stage, you do not act as yourself. You act the role you’ve been given. Deathmask acts his role as Aphrodite recites their report to the Grand Pope, which is as follows: examining Aphrodite’s attitude and stance before he decides to speak. It is the only time Deathmask watches himself, knowing that the way he speaks to Saga is not acceptable when it isn’t Saga behind the mask. This play of watching and waiting is a role he’s acted a thousand times, here in these chambers.

 

Aphrodite is no actor. To be more precise, Deathmask had never seen Aphrodite feign anything in his life. All his expressions are his own. He is the audience member, fervently waiting for his favorite actor to appear on stage. The Grand Pope is clothed from head to toe, and yet, Aphrodite always knows. He never lets on that he does, but Deathmask has been partnered with him on missions for over a decade, and delivering reports by his side for over a decade. Deathmask knows all of Aphrodite’s minute reactions as Aphrodite knows Saga’s.

 

Aphrodite’s voice is cool, level, and he wastes none of his words. Not once while he speaks does he reach up to move a strand of hair out of his face, nor does he stretch his shoulders an inch to deal with the strain of the heavy gold weight on them. This might be the closest Aphrodite gets to acting, but he’s never aware he’s doing it. Deathmask has asked before. 

 

But subconscious or not, it helps Deathmask immensely. Saga is absent today. Aphrodite is fulfilling his duty, not speaking to a man he reveres. It’s almost a shame, but the times when Saga is around are far less than the times when he isn’t. They’re all used to it, and Deathmask has come to accept it. But expected or not, these times where he and Aphrodite must act only as gold saints are miserably dull. He’ll have to wait to invite Aphrodite for a drink until after they’re dismissed. Deathmask’s effort into sounding respectful is bare minimum, so he must sound bored when he recites his part of the report, but neither man comments on it. Surely they’re both used to it by now as well.

 

Deathmask waits, with what he’d almost call godly patience, for the Grand Pope to dismiss them. The bottom of his foot begins to itch by the time the Grand Pope has decided he’s gotten enough information out of them for now and let’s them go. Relieved, he turns to go, until Aphrodite breaks the silence.

 

“Would you like me to stay, Grand Pope?” It’s not a question Aphrodite asks often, or at all. The man (Saga? Is it Saga now, without Deathmask’s notice? Was it him the whole time?) behind the mask does not vocalize any answer, giving only a motion of his arm, to which Aphrodite takes as a sign to approach him. For the first time in his life, Deathmask wonders what he’s missed out on knowing by simply not watching Saga.

 

Almost stupefied, Deathmask doesn’t register Aphrodite looking at him over his shoulder until they lock eyes. His eyebrows furrow, but Aphrodite only mouths a single word at him: “Later.”

 

Deathmask can… wait until later, he’s sure, to understand what’s going on. It isn’t that that bothers him. Watching Aphrodite approach the Grand Pope (Saga?) and place a hand on his back while they leave doesn’t quite bother him either. Though it would’ve made him feel inexplicably uncomfortable, normally.

 

What he really can’t get out of his head, even as he walks back his own temple, is the way Aphrodite’s stance seemed to melt away as soon as he was dismissed. Saga never changes that fast, and never during a report, and neither does Aphrodite. So obviously, Aphrodite had felt the need to act like that throughout their report for a reason. But why? Even if something was wrong with Saga and he was trying to fulfill his duty smoothly before approaching him, given Saga’s feelings, there’s probably not a single way Aphrodite could’ve acted that would’ve set Saga off further. If there’s anything Deathmask knew about Saga, it was that. Deathmask, and in some instances Shura as well, have accidentally set him off before with innocuous things. Though that was back when they were younger and knew less about Saga, when Saga was younger and knew less about himself. It had never happened recently, especially with Aphrodite be their sides.

 

Though, Deathmask supposed, that it was lucky Aphrodite decided to act like that anyway. Surely without knowing, he had led Deathmask into behaving in a way that didn’t set Saga off, which they all tried to avoid. Maybe he was truly clever, deciding to observe Aphrodite’s behavior around Saga for so long.

**Author's Note:**

> aphrodite isn't just conscious of saga


End file.
